BP Schedules December Strategy Update as Net Debt Guided Sharply Lower
BP will host a strategy and outlook update in New York in December, alongside a third-quarter statement guiding net debt sharply lower. What the update will contain has not been published.
BP (LON: BP.), the oil and gas group, said in its third-quarter trading statement today that it will hold a strategy and outlook update in New York on the 15th of December. The contents of that update have not been published.
BP shares closed today at 610p, up 3.74% from 588p yesterday, on volume of 47,118,791. They rose on the day the statement came out; the statement does not link the two.
That close is the highest in the past 52 weeks.
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BP’s weekly share price over the past year, ending at a 52-week high of 610p on the day of the Q3 trading statement, which flagged a strategy and outlook update due on the 15th of December.
The balance sheet is the setup. BP guided net debt at the end of the third quarter to between $13.5bn and $14.5bn, from $22.3bn at the end of the second quarter. These are company expectations, not final results.
The bridge includes a $1.0bn hybrid bond redemption, about $1.0bn of higher income taxes, a working capital release of up to $1.0bn and capital spending of about $3.0bn. BP also expects post-tax impairments of $3.0bn to $4.5bn, mainly in its gas and low carbon energy businesses, which are excluded from underlying profit.
The company put the wider effect this way:
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As a result, we expect the total of net debt, hybrid bonds, leases and Gulf of America settlement liabilities to reduce by around $9.0 to 10.0 billion compared with the second quarter.
BP
The portfolio is also changing. BP completed the Gelsenkirchen divestment on the 31st of July and has announced a $6bn sale of Castrol, its lubricants brand. Full-year 2026 divestment proceeds are guided at $8bn to $9bn, including the Castrol sum, with full-year capital spending guided at $13.5bn to $14.0bn.
Those are 2026 guidance figures, not targets for the new strategy. Buyback, dividend, capital spending and production targets all await the 15th of December, and claims about them before then are speculation.
The next hard numbers come with full third-quarter results on the 30th of October.
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